Digitalization is putting pressures on municipal ICT services. Human and monetary resources are often very limited but the number of requirements for new services increases. In the country of research (Finland), local governments and their ICT managers are trying to find solutions to their constantly worsening situation. One of the solutions is to create inter-municipal ICT cooperation i.e. to build an ecosystem for the municipal ICT operations for taking care of daily ICT operations and to develop municipal ICT services further. However, due to the size of the municipals, their locations, previous cooperation etc., there are different operating models in use. The purpose of the current research is through three municipal ICT ecosystems to clarify the reasons behind the selected operating models, to find out how successful municipalities have been in cooperation and to understand whether a SECO could be a solution for municipalities. The results of the current research expose the positive opportunities for ecosystems in the municipal ICT environment.